Consumers move away from fixed-rate deals

Ray Boulger, Senior Technical Manager at John Charcol, said: "In March 2010, exactly one year after the historic cut in Bank Rate to an all-time low of 0.5%, just 17% of our clients chose a fixed-rate mortgage.

"The proportion then started increasing as the cost of fixed rates fell, reducing the premium one had to pay for security, and as people started worrying about rate increases.

"With the cost of fixed rates bottoming out around the turn of the year and increasing worries about a rate rise as a result of the surging CPI, fixed-rate take up jumped sharply from 32.2% in December to 56.0% in February.

"In March this figure fell to 49.9% as borrowers were put off fixed rates by the hike in price."